Chapter 17:

This is not a novel. It's a confession

Sakuragami Syndrome

The girl I loved was laying down in front of me. She was still recovering from the energy loss our fight against Chizaki had left on our bodies. The plan she worked on was a success. Not only did she manage to stop an unexpected monster, but she also stopped her inner demon, and so I did. We saved our senpais, and we’ll finally have a normal school life like the real world people and manga characters. That would have been all… If I was still a fucking idiot.

“I’m sorry, Manami-sama.”

*BAM!!*

...

*Shit, Butagami… You punched her face so hard that you made her unconscious…*

“How can you talk with me if I'm not looking at any reflective object, Kira-san??”

*Shithead!! That was just you seeing me using our mouth. I never needed a reflective surface to communicate. We share the same body!! When you saw me in the mirror speaking, it was just me taking control over our face to communicate. The same you did with Manami-san before. I think I explained it before.*

Ah... He’s right.

*So you finally realize that she was our enemy. Now kill her!!!* It started!! I can speak through our mouth!! Just a couple of minutes more and I will control our body!!!

“No. That’s not what I had in mind!!!”

*Why not?? She said she wanted to die anyway!!* This girl is dangerous… I can’t be sure… But she was sure that she could kill me without killing Butagami!!

“Didn’t you say that you trust her?? Why do you want to kill her??”

*I do trust Manami-shit, but not Manami-shit-2. Come on, Butagami. I’m the only friend you need. She’s definitely lying to you. I won’t ever do something to hurt or trick you!! She wanted to kill me!! I’m not a bad guy, you know that!!*

“Yeah. So it is Manami-sama.”

*GRAB*

*Step, step, step…*

*Fiuusssshh*

*Tie up*

“It’s done…”

*Don’t tell me!! You tied Manami-shit along with the rest of the students to make her look like a victim???*

“You are right, Kira-san.”

*I see. So you are planning to abandon her and the others to their luck. When Chizaki wakes up again, he will kill her too!! You made this in order to keep your hands clean. You really become a cold man, Butagami.*

“You are stupid, Kira-san.”

*What did you just say???!!!*

“Not a single word that you said is correct. I’m not abandoning anyone to die. I’m saving their lives!!!”

*This is the last phase of the mission to get our bodies back, Butagami!! After you stop the other me and I gain control over my body, I will help you maintain Kira sleeping as well!! By this moment you should have realized what your [Trigger Factor] is, so it should be simple!!*

I’m sorry, Manami-sama… I’m putting an end to all of this.

*Anyway… Her hair is still blonde. When everyone wakes up, they will see who she really was. You will ruin her life by letting her like that.*

“Don’t worry, Kira-san. I have a plan to prove her innocence. If everything goes as I planned, she will be able to maintain her life as it is and fulfill her dreams.”

*Tell me then!!*

“Just watch me do it.”

*GRAB*

*RIP… RASH… FIIUUSSHH… RASH*

*What a pervert!!! I understand you taking back your jacket to not let evidence of us being here. But why are you slightly ripping the shirts of all those girls???!!!?? Don’t tell me that… you want to make everyone look like Manami-shit-2 so the police believe that they were victims of the same person!! You plan to make Chizaki your scapegoat!!*

“Yeah… more less.”

*You impress me, Butagami… And now what?? Where are you heading to with that rope? Don’t tell me that you pretend to tie up yourself.*

*Step… step… step…*

“We are going to the student council room.*

*Yes!! You're finally paying attention to what I'm saying to you!! There’s a secret room where all the books about this syndrome are gathered!! If we read them, I'll be able to prove that Manami-shit-2 lied to us!*

“I’m not planning to do that.”

*What??!!?*

*Creak*

*PC turns on*

*Why are you using the computer, Butagami?? Just find the secret door!! It should be behind one of those bookshelves.*

“Just watch me.”

*Eeeeeeh?? What are you doing? Are you writing a light novel or something?? Hahahahaha! You finally did it, right? You lost your fucking mind, you filthy pig!!*

“This is not a novel, you psycho!! This is a confession!”

*DETERMINATION STARE*

*A confession on a web-novel webpage?? Don’t be ridiculous!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! No one will read your stupid novel, Butagami!!! They will think you are just making up all of it!! Stop wasting our time and hand me the control back!!*

“They will believe me if I put my real life address. The police computer crime department will eventually find it with their tools.”

*You damn pig!! Stop writing that right now!! You are making us look like we were the villains!!*

“I’m doing this to save Manami-sama the same way she did for me on the school trip to prove my innocence.”

*You will ruin all her effort if you write that confession!!*

“He!! Didn’t you say that no one would read this, Kira-san??”

* I’ll kill you. You hear me?? Moralistic pig!!*

“I don’t fear you anymore, Kira-san. You are just a little rat hiding inside me!!”

*LET ME OUT AND YOU’LL SEE WHO THE COWARD IS!! I’LL SLICE YOUR THROAT OPEN AFTER BURNING YOUR CONFESSION!!*

“No. You've already done enough.”

Menacing him isn’t working anymore!! Don’t tell me that he lost the will to live?!!? *Your love for yourself is that pathetic, Butagami? So much that you cling to the friendship of someone as toxic as Manami-shit-2?? You should learn to love yourself before trying to get others to do so. Respect yourself!*

“That’s exactly what I’m doing, Kira-san. I’m starting to think by myself thanks to the Sakuragami syndrome.”

*PUBLISH CHAPTER*

*CLICK!!*

*You pig!! What have you done!! Give the body back to me!!*

“No! I’m going to end this once and for all. I’ll stop you once and for all.”

*You liar!! Manami-shit-2 taught you to lie like her??!?!*

“I wasn’t lying. I changed my mind.”

*Search… search…*

*The hell are you searching for now??!!*

*CLONK!!*

“Found it!!”

*This is… the secret room… All those books!!! Those are the books we need to read!! Butagami!! Hurry up and let me… eh?*

*FIIUSSHH*

*Don’t tell me… you sneaked a rope while you tied Manami to…*

“Yeah.”

*Why is it so hard for you to admit that Manami was lying to you??!!? Why have you come this far for a liar like her??!?!*

“Because I can’t…”

*SAD FACE*

“...deny the only truth I have ever believed in my life. I’m weak.”

*Tear drops*

Butagami… *Weren’t you afraid of dying just a moment ago??!!! Why are you doing this?!?!?!*

*TIGHT TIE*

“And I was afraid. I finally got what I wanted. A friend, Manami-sama being my girlfriend… I’m still afraid of losing it all.”

*Then why?!??! Why are you going to do this!!??!!!!* WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ROOM!!! Why does it have such sturdy pipes at the ceiling just on top of a small table??!?!

*CLIMB*

“This is not what I want to do. This is what I need to do. To pay for my sins. And to protect the life of Manami-sama.”

*Butagami!!! Stop being a fool!!! We did nothing wrong!! We are the good guys here!!!* Fuck!!! Just a little more!! I’m about to get full control!!

*Neck wrap*

“All those people died because of me. If I hadn't been alive, you wouldn't have had to defend me. Manami-sama wouldn't have had to get blood on his hands either!!!”

*We can have it all!!! Think about it, Butagami!!! The world is waiting for us!!!*

“What good is it for me to gain the world, if I have lost my soul?”

*STOOOOOPPPP!!!!!!! ROACH-GAMIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!

Farewell… mom, dad, Manami-sama, Kira-san. The only ones I can call my friends. I hope this will make up for my sins. Farewell… world.

*NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

*Kick*

*Jump*

*Crack*

*Well… pla… yed… But…*

*Silence*

****

Back at the Sakuragami academy, in the class where the battle between 19 personalities took place, a young sub-inspector with his face covered in blood arrived.

“What the hell happened here?? It’s like a fight took place here. Is that Yamazaki-san?? There are a lot of students tied up in the nearby classrooms.”

*XRZRRZXRZXR*

“Kaizaki here!! I’m on the last floor of the Sakuragami academy. Multiple students had been kidnapped and a couple of them had their faces severely damaged. There’s also a mortal victim with his neck broken. I need more reinforcements and ambulances at my location right now!!”

*Roger, sub-inspector Yamazaki. Sending all disponible units to your location.*

*XCRZZZKKK*

Yamazaki-san… Did he do all of this?? Maybe he fought Oshino and Manami here… I saw her tied up too, without a brush, but with her clothes mildly ripped along with the other female students. Her hair is black as always, no wig on her. So maybe Yamazaki-san was mistaken about that girl. But I couldn’t find Oshino anywhere. He might be the mastermind behind this and forced Manami to wear a blonde wig to kill his victims at that hut. Don’t worry, Yamazaki-san. I’ll help you proof your innocence in all of this.

…

A couple of days later

“This court sentences Kirio Yamazaki to 143 years in a special tempered glass prison for plotting with Oshino Butagami, still disappeared, for the multiple homicides against students from the Sakuragami academy.”

*SLAM!!!*

I’m sorry, Yamazaki-san…

****

*SWOOOOSSSSHHH*

"Mmmh?? Where am I...??"

After taking my own life to protect Manami-sama from Kira-san, and to make up for my sins, I woke up in a pitch black space. It was exactly like when I entered my mind for the first time, except that I was floating in this new space.

"I see... This may be the limbo. So I died!!! I did it!!"

I managed to stop Kira-san from killing Manami-sama. I also stopped Manami-san and her plan to kill all the students. Now… without me… I’m sure that everyone will be happier. Manami-sama will be able to control her body and live a peaceful life. If I stayed with her, her psychopath personality would have prevented her from achieving her dreams. I left the world without anyone knowing that I saved them. A great ending, just like Shonen heroes.

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh!! I’m so relieved now. Floating in this dark space isn’t that bad at all if I can pay for my sins."

*Butagamiiii…!!*

“Eh? Who's calling me?? It appears to be far away..."

*ROACH-GAMIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!*

“Ooooohh!! Kira-san!! What a surprise!! What a coincidence to meet at the limbo!!”

*Come here, you fucking piece of shit!!!*

*SWING*

“Don’t hit me!! Gyaaaaaahhh!!!”

*Go through*

*SHIT!!!*

“Ah!! You can’t hit me because we are souls!! Hahahaha!!”

*SHUT UP!!! Or I will kill you!!!*

“He!! You can’t scare me anymore, Kira-san. I’m dead already!!”

*You damn fat whale!!!*

“Whale?? Now that you say it!! My body… I’m as fat as I was before you appeared!!! But why?? Also, your body looks different from what it was mine… It looks like the body of another person. But your face is exactly as it was after you made me lose weight.”

*I don’t know… I’m as lost as you are. This is my first time here too. Let’s go search for something instead of wasting our time.*

“Our time?? Kira-san, we are dead. We have all eternity to find…”

*FLASH!!!!!!*

*The hell is that light!!!???*

“My eyes!!!”

*FLASH!!!!!!*

*SFX: Angelical choirs*

*SFX: Bells ringing*

Wooooow… This light… this mystical music… It’s almost like God himself was coming to talk with us…

*A bright light is slowly descending!! Prepare to fight, Butagami!!! Don’t let him drag you to heaven!! I need you to go directly to hell!!*

“Kira-san?!?? Weren’t we friends??!”

*SHUT UP!!! We’ll talk about that later!! Look!! The light is weakening!! On guard!!*

*Fight stances*

Kira and I stood in front of that angelical light that came from the… dark sky? While angelic choirs and bells were ringing, we prepared ourselves to fight against what we thought would be our toughest enemy. But, in fact, it was…

…

“Yo-nyan!!”

…

Eh? A smurf?

Eh? A little girl?? Why does she look like an anime character??

*What do you mean with yonyan?? Is it some kind of spell??*

“It’s my kawaii phrase finisher-nyan =3”

*KAWAII WINK*

*The hell are you??!! Brat!!*

“I’m not a brat!! I’m a 1000 year-old goddess. I’m the goddess from the Sakuragami shrine. Welcome to my realm-saku.”

*Cute smile*

SAKU?!?!? WASN’T NYAN YOUR PHRASE FINISHER??!!?? *Really?? A goddess?? With pink hair and oversized clothes?? You have so much make-up that you look like an anime girl. You are just a loli-hag.*

“I’m not a hag!!! >:(”

*Pouty face*

*BONK!!*

*GYAAAAAAAAAAHH!!! It hurts!!! How could you hit me?? Wasn’t I intangible??*

“Huhuhu!! Maybe for you!! But I’m a goddess!! And I can do what I want in my realm!! Everything but lie or change my childish body =3”

AND NOW SHE STOPPED USING ANY FINISHER!!!!

“Ah!! You are the goddess Chizaki mentioned?? I thought he was just crazy!!” Well… He was crazy in other ways.

“Correct-nyan!! I heard you wanted to know why your bodies looked different after you came here-saku. That’s because everyone inside of my realm maintains the body shape that they died with. And I know that kitty Butagami-nyan wasn’t fat when he… hung himself =3 But that body wasn’t his. Just imagine that you died when kitty Kira-nyan arrived-saku. Consider it as a mirror of your soul-nyan.”

SHE’S USING 2 FINISHERS NOW?!?!?! MAKE UP YOUR LOLI MIND!!!!!

Wait a second… My body is fat… And Kira’s body doesn’t look like mine. Does that mean that Kira is another person?????!!!?? He’s not me???!?!? According to Sakuragami-sama’s words… That’s the body he had when he died. Then, that also means that the goddess Sakuragami…

“You may be asking what are you both doing here-saku.”

*Yeah!! Explain yourself, goddess-whatever. We don’t give a shit about our souls!!*

“This is not the first time you are here, kitty Kira-nyan. This ball of memory will help you remember. Let it enter your body-saku!!”

*Throw*

…

*Penetrate*

*AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

“Kira-san!!!”

“Don’t worry, kitty Butagami-nyan. He’s remembering-saku.”

…

“You are such a good son, Kira-kun!!”

“We are both proud of you, son.”

“I love you, mom and dad <3”

“Hahahahaha!!”

“Ara-ara. What a lovely son I have. Huhuhu.”

…

“Kira-kun!! Hide here and don’t make a sound!! Please, be a good boy and don’t come out or cry until there’s no one around, okay??”

…

*SPLASH!!!*

*BAM!!!*

*PUM!!!*

*BLEED!!!*

“Look at this unfaithful woman!! Her blood won’t stop coming out!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! That’s what happens with people who don’t believe in the goddess of Sakuragami shrine!! Man… I love breaking people’s skulls!! This is the best!! Seeing blood makes me so happy!!!”

“Hey!! The kid isn’t here!! He might have escaped!!”

“Shit!! Find him!! He’s the son of a couple of blasphemous bastards!!! We can’t make Ouz*** mad!!”

…

“Oh, Sakuragami goddess. I’ve been trying for the last 10 years to find the assassins of my parents. But it's almost like they disappeared!! If your power is real… Then… Grant me my wish because I have sinned!! Give me another life so I can avenge my family!!! Make me, Kira Oshino, avenge his family!!! In exchange for my very soul.”

…

*Aaah… aaah… ah…!!!* That guy killing my parents… was he Chizaki??? He said something while I faced him…

“Kira-san are you okay??”

*Yes… I do remember now. I remember everything!!! Hey!! Loli-sama!!! Why couldn’t I remember anything of this before?? Why did you take my memories from me??!?!?*

“I didn’t-saku. It’s a secondary effect of receiving my grace =3”

*Your grace?? You mean the Sakuragami syndrome??*

“Syndrome-saku?? I guess that’s how humans call it.”

Damn it!! What was all that?? So it’s true that I was reincarnated?? That dung-eater of Chizaki was right!! Even Manami-shit-2 was!! It’s hard to believe, but it is what it is.

“Nice job explaining all of that back there, kitty Kira-nyan =3 Your skills at detecting someone’s lies are incredible!! I admire that-saku.”

Lying?? She’s speaking about Manami-sama?? So Kira-san was right?? Or is this goddess the one lying?? “How do you know what we were thinking??”

*Yeah… We were mentally communicating!!* Does this loli-hag read minds??

“I’m not a hag!!! >:(”

*BONK!!*

*GYAAAAAAAAHHH!!! A simple yes would have been enough!!!*

“Hu-hu-hu!! There’s nothing I can’t do in my holy domains!! I already told you!! That includes toughs and lies =3”

“Excuse me, Sakuragami-sama. But how do we know that you aren’t lying to us?”

“No one can lie in my holy realm-saku =3 Not even I. Lies and hypocrisy are the things that I hate the most. If you don't believe me, try to say your name wrongly-nyan.”

*Okay. I’ll do it. My name is… KIRA OSHINO!!!* Damn… It’s true.

“My name is… Butagami Oshino!! It’s true… We can’t lie, Kira-san!!”

*It may be a trap, Butagami. She’s the goddess here. She might be fooling us.*

“If you still don't believe me-saku, there's a rule in literature. Better shown than told. So look at these images-nyan!!”

*TV shows up*

How the hell did a TV appear there!!!??

“Remember that this is my realm-saku!! I can do whatever I want, even read your minds-nyan!! So you should say all your questions instead of just thinking them =3”

*I can see something on the TV!!*

“This TV shows events that happened or will happen in your world. This is kitty Butagami-nyan being bullied in the school's bathroom.”

*Look at them. They are all the same. They're just trying to bully the weaker ones. If you had jumped on one and stuck your thumbs in his eyes, you would have earned the respect of the whole high school.*

“This is kitty Butagami-nyan inside a school urinal thinking of kitty Manami.”

“Sakuragami-sama!!! PLEASE!!!! Don't show that!!!!”

*Pathetic, Roach-gami… You just should have asked her out instead of doing that.*

“This is kitty Manami stalking kitty Butagami-nyan while he was bullied…”

Kitty Manami?? She might have been here too. So it was true that she also had the Sakuragami Syndrome. *Wait!! That’s Manami-shit!! So it was true that she stalked you!!*

“So now that you’ve seen it, try to say that what you have seen is not true. This way, if I lied to you, you should be able to say it-saku.”

“What we saw was real!! I can’t say that it’s false!! So it's true. Sakuragami-sama can’t lie either!!” So maybe Manami-sama really lied to us?? But Sakuragami-sama proved that Manami-sama was stalking me. So she didn’t lie with that!!

*Roach-gami… I don’t know what is happening here. I can’t find any traces of lies in her words. I could tell that Manami-shit was lying, but not this loli. What I saw when she threw me that ball were really memories from my past…*

“Mom!! Dad!! I love you <3”

“So we are dead?? Or are we just hallucinating??”

*Butagami... Neither we nor she can lie here. So we must be dead. And this is definitely the sacred realm of a goddess. A loli goddess... But we are in the perfect place to solve our doubts. She can’t lie, so she really must be a goddess. Her name is the same as the Sakuragami syndrome. She showed us images from the high school, so she must know the truth about Manami-shit too. What we must do now is to ask her everything we want to know!! We will solve this mystery right now!!*

“I see. We will ask her if you are right about Manami-sama. We don’t need to investigate more!! Go for it!!”

Damn Whale-gami!! You didn’t investigate shit!! *If you are really the goddess of Sakuragami, you must know about the syndrome.*

“Of course, I already told you. It's me who created it-saku. But I call it The Sakuragami Gift-saku. It was a human that called it syndrome. I don’t like it-nyan!!”

*Pouty face*

*Then you can answer our questions!!*

“I will =3”

*Kawaii smile*

Nice!! This is better than reading 500 books!! This self called goddess has all the information, including the one from the missing volumes!!! I can tell from that memory ball that we are indeed dead. So this is not a hallucination!!! *What exactly is the Sakuraga…*

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!”

*Desperate run!!*

Eh? Why is she panicking??

“My favorite anime is about to start-nyan!!!”

*TV turns on*

*Hey!! Weren't you about to answer our questions??*

“I will.”

*When??*

“But of course it will be…”

*NEKO STARE*

*KAWAII STARE*

*SWEET STARE*